Donald Trump’s one-month-old attorney (AG) hack William Barr decreed his boss free of all charges related to the Mueller report. Barr also gave him a long lead, so that Trump could firmly set in the country’s mind that he was a cleared man. The AG broke all traditions with his declaration and even slow-walked his redacting pen all over the report. Then, the press said “Enough!”
Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press filed a lawsuit in the D.C. federal court to release all grand jury material “cited, quoted, or referenced” in the Mueller report originally submitted to Barr.
The Reporters Committee also filed a FOIA (Freedom of Information Act) request to see the entire unredacted Mueller report. Barr cited the Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 6(e), saying that he could not release the full report due to the grand jury material in it.
Should the federal court find for the Reporters Committee lawsuit, Barr could release any parts of the Mueller report that he gave to the public (Congress).
Reporters Committee Legal Director Katie Townsend said:
‘Given the historical significance and overwhelming public interest in the Mueller report, the Reporters Committee is urging the Court to exercise its authority to allow those portions of the report that consist of grand jury material to be released to the public. The calls for transparency are broad and bipartisan. The president himself has said the report should be made public. We agree. The public is entitled to see as much of the Mueller report, unredacted, as possible.’
Theodore Boutrous Jr. from Gibson Dunn attorneys represents the Reporters Committee, Townsend, and its executive director Bruce Brown. Boutrous said “The American people deserve to see and scrutinize the full contents:”
‘The exceptions to the federal grand jury secrecy rules, multiple precedents, the First Amendment and the public interest all support releasing the Mueller report in full given the extraordinary circumstances of this matter and the need to ensure public confidence in the results of this investigation. The American people deserve to see and scrutinize the full contents of the report so they can evaluate for themselves the threats to our electoral system from Russian interference and make their own judgments about whether the president and his campaign coordinated with Russia or obstructed justice.’
